Paul Allison

Welcome to our first video festival. On this episode of TTT, we screen two-and-a-half student documentaries by middle school students in George Mayo's classes and two by high school students in Joel Malley's classes. Monika Hardy and Paul Allison were joined by Troy Hicks, Rebecca Warner, and Eric Taddei.

Central Films where you'll find videos from Cheektowaga Central's Mass Media and Film Production classes, which can best be described as a creative nonfiction writing workshop where we develop our writing into film projects. Visit our Vimeo group http://vimeo.com/groups/centralfilms to watch our films. If you have any questions, contact Joel at jmalley@ccsd-k12.org

We started our celebration with a look at a couple of the philosophical touchstones for TTT, mainly World Bridges and the National Writing Project. Jeff Lebow (WB) and Elyse Eidman-Aadahl (NWP) helped us with these starting points.

The goals of Worldbridges are relatively simple and straightforward, as follows, “Our primary goal is to foster understanding and cooperation amongst the citizens of the world. We value civility and respect, open source collaboration, fair distribution of income, and a sense of world identity.” As part of these efforts, Worldbridges seeks to foster positive systemic changes in areas such as education, the environment, and politics. It also supports reliable and fair commerce. And it promotes a “people’s forum” for more civilized discussion of problems, issues, and conflicts that pose significant challenges in united the people of this planet. Values supported by the Worldbridges organization include respect and civility, fair distribution of income, world identity, and open source collaboration.

Jeff Lebow began experimenting with Worldbridges ideas (initially called “World Explorer”) when starting his master’s program in Training and Learning Technologies at the University of New Mexico in 1993 after a year of teaching English in Thailand (Worldbridges, 2007). At that time, Lebow became excited at the possibilities of the convergence of intercultural interaction and collaborative and interactive online technologies. After completing his masters, he returned to Asia—this time Pusan, Korea—where he taught English as a university and began to experiment with online audio and video, which included covering the Nagano Olympics in 1998. After burning out on all his activities and attempting to envision and build a webcasting network his life took a turn, or as he puts it, “I decided to quit my job, shave my head, and go to India for a while to contemplate the next chapter, for me personally and for Worldbridges. After some quality offline time, I decided to give Worldbridges a shot.” In Lebow’s vision for Worldbridges, he sought for it to become a means for using Internet technology for a global webcasting network of people. And it has!

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And here's a paragraph about the National Writing Project's core philosophy by Art Peterson in 2004

The National Writing Project's core philosophy, "teachers teaching teachers," is perhaps most directly expressed in the invitational summer institute's teacher demonstrations. NWP founder Jim Gray writes in Teachers at the Center, his memoir of the writing project beginnings, "The most successful demonstrations communicate not only what the teacher does but also why the teacher thinks this particular practice works. The emphasis upon the why as well as the what is important: it provides a theoretical underpinning and it accents a considered approach to writing beyond mere gimmickry" (143). According to Gray, this demonstration serves as a "trial run" for the workshops future teacher-consultants will present during inservice work in the schools, but it is intended to be much more than a simple demonstration of a strategy or technique. It is intended to be a significant "genre" for the circulation of knowledge about practice.

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Enjoy!

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, we talk with three young people--Peter, Sierra, and Cristian--who have been working alongside Monika Hardy in the Innovation Lab in Loveland, Colorado. http://labconnections.blogspot.com/p/about.html

They have been experimenting with what happens when you set an individual free, in spaces of permission, with nothing to prove. They are are hoping/planning to experiment this next year with what happens when you set a city free, in spaces of trust, creating gatherings that matter.

Peter Harold

My name is Peter Harold, I’m a 17 year old and I live lovely Loveland, Colorado. I love to sing, sign, laugh and eat. I enjoy the outdoors and love people. My dream is help create a world where everybody’s happy. One of my aspirations is to become fluent enough in many languages to interpret God’s word for those who can’t understand it. I would also love to create music to heal others. Through these things I feel the world could achieve soul peace.

Sierra Goldstein

My name is Sierra Goldstein, I’m a 14 year old girl, and I live in Loveland Colorado. I love to read, run, kickbox, ride horses, practice/ teach yoga, travel, blog, and eat healthy food. I believe that to achieve your goals, you need a network of mentors and friends to support you on your journey. One of my accomplishments is becoming the youngest yoga instructor in the US. Teaching yoga allows me to share the divinity I have within myself, to others who seek it. My goal for when I am older is to go to Stanford University for my bachelor degree, and then move on to the National College of Natural Medicine to become a doctor in preventative medicine. From the education I receive I want to help people by teaching and giving them the tools and foods to fill their body, mind, and spirit with what they need to survive and flourish.

Cristian Buendia

Cristian a young member of society trying to change the world and his city... Has a passion for soccer and video... loves people and food....

Enjoy!

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

+Jim Bentley, a teacher in the Elk Grove, California school district joins us as well.

Our students (and we ourselves) spend increasing amount of time online, communicating and collaborating virtually. How can we teach our students about their rights and responsibilities as digital citizens as they navigate their online communities?

Gail and Natalie, both members of their local National Writing Project sites, created the Digital ID wiki http://digital-id.wikispaces.com to supply students, teachers, and administrators with a toolkit of reliable information, resources, and guidelines to help us all learn how to be upstanding Digital Citizens who maintain a healthy Digital Identity (ID) in the 21st Century.

Learn about the Digital ID project on this episode of TTT. Project curators Natalie Bernasconi and Gail Desler share how this collaborative project has grown into an "international conversation" that they would love for you and your students to be a part of.

What ideas do you have for weaving digital citizenship into the core curriculum?

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

Margaret has been a frequent guest on Teachers Teaching Teachers since the BP Oil Spill. Her elementary school school students published memorable poems and multimedia commentary on Voices on the Gulf, and Ms. Simons' students continue to publish on Youth Voices http://youthvoices.net/posts/user/3587

It may be a YA novel or a first-chapter book, but I agree with one Amazon reviewer who writes that Blessen is "a book for young readers, but an old reader like me can enjoy it just as well."

In this highlight from the videocast, Margaret reads "Piggly Wiggly," a chapter from her book, Blessen.

Margaret Simon is a teacher-consultant with the National Writing Project of Acadiana, Louisiana. In this podcast we explore Margaret's creative process, her use of a writing group, and her journey in publication. What questions do you have? Please add your comments below.

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